Saturday, May 27, 2017

It's been tough to find funny photos the last couple of weeks, so I thought this week I'd do a random photo post, instead. Welcome to Lazy Saturday photos!

I've been toying with writing a cozy mystery. I know, I know. I have a contemporary fantasy I need to get finished and really shouldn't be thinking about anything else. But, I haven't written anything new in a really long time, and I think I'm finally sorting through my writerly issues and am ready to soldier on (I'll need to do a blog post on that some day.) And the plotting of a new story is some of the best fun I have in writing.

So, anyway...back to why I should write a cozy mystery... I love Murder She Wrote and mystery dramas on television, read reams of cozy mysteries, and realized many of the thrillers I've enjoyed over the years owe much to the mystery genre as well. Even my own books are kind of mysteries hidden behind a fantasy veneer. And my love of mystery, specifically of the cozy variety, came early to me, as I loved the Encyclopedia Brown books, Trixie Belden and Nancy Drew as a child.

My home town (the current one) kind of lends itself as a setting. It's not very big (25,000 people) but still big enough to have complex relationships. We've got a college, a community college, a museum, library, courts, crime, (limited) retail, a nifty downtown area, bike paths, and will be at totality of the solar eclipse this summer. Seventy-five percent of the population is retired, and people still wave and smile at each other, go to the parks on a hot summer day, and attend high school sports events. And it's beautiful here! Lots of trees, green grass and flowers. There is a seedy underside, of course. My husband is a probation officer and I hear about some of the problems of the area from co-workers, too. It's not perfect, but it seems like a nice setting for a cozy mystery, a la the Cat Who books.

So, I thought I'd take you on a tour of our town today. My family and I went for a bike ride this morning, and I took some photos of a couple of the places we went by. I'll share just a few that give an idea of what I find appealing about this little town.

We started off by going to the park where bricks were made many years ago. The stacks are still standing and the size of the park is immense. It's more like an over-sized meadow than a park, with lush green grass and graceful trees sharing the space with an amphitheater and some pretty ancient playground equipment my kids adore.

This picture was actually taken on a different day.

Then we headed downtown and decided to stop for a bite to eat.

I always forget how expensive Jimmy Johns is. So much time passes between our visits to the restaurant, because of how expensive it is, I forget and then am always shocked at the tab when we do go. Today was no different. It will now be another 9 mos to a year before we eat at Jimmy Johns again.

This is one panel of a connected row of buildings whose rear exteriors are painted in a colorful mural along the bike path. I liked this one because of the flying moose. Just joking. I'm actually quite perplexed at the flying moose. It's not like there are moose in Nebraska. In any case, all the panels are whimsical and bright. Very interesting to look at, and I imagine have meaning to the area.

Just a picture of my family going down the bike path. I'm so enchanted with the amount of trees in this town. Very different from where we lived in Wyoming.

The bike path follows a viaduct over the train tracks. I love how train tracks look when seen from above. They seem to hold a promise of travel and novelty. Even if you aren't going to be hopping a train soon!

This was new along the path. We can't tell if it's someone's personal tree house or if it was built along the path for the public to play in.

And then finally we ended up at a different park than the morning. Actually, by taking the bike path in a big (10-12 mile) circle, we managed to go through the three major parks in town. This one has new equipment, old equipment and a spray park. We enjoyed all three, proving once again that playgrounds aren't just for children, they're for the young at heart.

I hope everyone had as nice a Saturday morning as we did. I decided to limit my social media/internet usage today, so as to not taint the day with the craziness of the outside world. I wish all of the world could have some of the peace and contentment I had today.

Saturday, May 20, 2017

All right. I give up. I've been looking at photos for at least an hour and a half, and could only find just a few photos. I'll include a funny video at the bottom, instead. My boys showed it to me, and it really did make me laugh.

How has everyone been? May is turning out to be a stressful. Work is stressful because I've been buried with assessments. I've also been glued to the internet about all this political stuff. I waste a ton of time trying to figure out all that's been happening. It's all so overwhelming, and I'm going to have to give myself a time-limit. It's making me crazy, cranky, and uber-distracted.

Last weekend I had a lot of fun coming up with a story idea for a Wattpad challenge, but still have to write the actual story. It's flash fiction--very, very short flash fiction--so hopefully I'll get it done this weekend. My other happy times this week have been listening to my kids practice their musical instruments and going for walks. One son is playing What A Wonderful World on his cello (among other songs, but that's my favorite), and the other is working on Ain't No Mountain High Enough (again, among other songs.) We've been exploring Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, 50's, 70's, classical and recent pop music. It's been a lot of fun.

Okay! Here's the photos. Hopefully they at least make you smile!

Do you think this is photo-shopped? If not, that's actually a scary picture.

I visit Nursing Facilities and can never find the front door. What do NF's have against marking their entrances clearly?

Not funny - just cool!

We do have a pun this week!

And a video. The boys found it. It's from Bad Lip Reading's YouTube channel. There's all kinds of videos there, including other funny Star Wars ones.

I hope you all have an awesome weekend and next week. Now my children are out of school, I might have more relaxed evenings. That would be nice. :)

Saturday, May 13, 2017

I hope you all had a wonderful week! I think mine was good. Quite honestly, it was a whirlwind and between my kids' end of school things and the state of politics, it was over before I knew it. Which is probably a good thing, but it means most of my writing was done in my head and not much on paper.

Let's see some photos... (Found on icanhascheeseburger.com)

I looked it up. It's true penguins were nicknamed "arse-feet" in the 1800's!

For some reason it reminds me of Patrick Stewart?

Last night I had a dream I was riding a camel, and forgot until I saw this picture.It was a weird dream.

Well, I think that's it for funny photos. Despite getting distracted by watching Adam Lambert videos on YouTube, this post is still taking way longer than it should to pull together. I have scrolled through lots of funny photos and I'm ready to call it for the week.

The thing about Adam Lambert is he is creatively inspirational to me. I can listen to any song - not just the ones I have on my Through the Fairy Ring playlist - and I get that itchy-to-create feeling. I'm not sure if it's the music or his talent for entertaining that makes me want to explore my own creativity. The persona he puts out to the public is unafraid and unapologetic. His music helps me to remember to be brave and overcome the fear of creative rejection. Here are some quotes from him that I like:

"I started rejecting the proper way to sing and I started singing."

"There's not a blueprint for me to follow."

"I think the more we as artists share ourselves openly, the more someone out there may feel inspired to do the same." (Flaunt Magazine, 2016)

Saturday, May 06, 2017

How was your week? Mine was crazy busy! I'm behind with paperwork at work, Boy 1 had an orchestra concert and Boy 2 had his birthday. It's all behind us now, though. On to the weekend, and editing and relaxation, right?

I found enough pictures I thought were cute that you don't have to read an actual post. I'm wondering what I should write about when I have to write a blog post. I haven't done that in so long!

Anyway, here's this week's offering of photos:

They look so determined!

They may eat my bird seed, but I'm still starting to find squirrels charming.

The way I feel by the end of the week. This is why I don't have friends.

So, that would be a no.

What applying for government assistance programs is like. You understand the direction, but it doesn't make sense.

A little science humor...

I think my favorite is the squirrel games. I laugh when I see flattened squirrels - unless their guts are beside them on the road. Then I feel sad.

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About Me

I am a writer, mother of two, wife of one, and a stubborn optimist. I love Star Wars, Lego people, science, everyday magic and to laugh. You can contact me at laschiff(at)ymail(dot)com or direct message me on Twitter at @LASbauer.